Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem,
and put on for ever the beauty of the glory from God.
Put on the robe of the righteousness from God;
put on your head the crown of the glory of the Everlasting.
For God will show your splendour everywhere under heaven.
For your name will for ever be called by God:
‘Peace of righteousness and glory of godliness’.
Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height
and look towards the east
and see your children gathered from west and east,
at the word of the Holy One,
rejoicing that God has remembered them.
For they went forth from you on foot,
led away by their enemies;
but God will bring them back to you,
carried in glory, as on a royal throne.
For God has ordered that every high mountain
and the everlasting hills be made low
and the valleys filled up to make level ground,
so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God.
The woods and every fragrant tree
have shaded Israel at God’s command.
For God will lead Israel with joy
in the light of his glory,
with the mercy and righteousness that come from him.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 126(125):1-2b. 2c-3. 4-5. 6. ℟3
What great deeds the Lord worked for us!
Indeed, we were glad.
When the Lord brought back the exiles of Sion,
we thought we were dreaming.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter;
on our tongues, songs of joy.
What great deeds the Lord worked for us!
Indeed, we were glad.
Then they said among the nations,
‘What great deeds the Lord worked for them!’
What great deeds the Lord worked for us!
Indeed, we were glad.
What great deeds the Lord worked for us!
Indeed, we were glad.
Bring back our exiles, O Lord,
as streams in the Negeb.
Those who are sowing in tears
will sing when they reap.
What great deeds the Lord worked for us!
Indeed, we were glad.
They go out, they go out, full of tears,
bearing seed for the sowing;
they come back, they come back with a song,
bearing their sheaves.
What great deeds the Lord worked for us!
Indeed, we were glad.
Second reading
Philippians 1:3-6, 8-11
‘Be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.’
Brothers and sisters: I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Gospel Acclamation
Luke 3:4, 6
Alleluia, alleluia.
Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight;
all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
Alleluia.
Gospel
Luke 3:1-6
‘All flesh shall see the salvation of God.’
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.
And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall become straight,
and the rough places shall become level ways,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” ’
The new Lectionary is here
Since 1 December 2024 the Readings at Mass and Mass Today pages have been showing you the English Standard Version (ESV) translations of the readings. The bishops of England, Wales and Scotland decreed this change, and you are seeing it because your current calendar setting is “England - Portsmouth - Jersey”.
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Universalis podcast: The week ahead – from 8 to 14 December
Echoes between the First Readings and the Gospel. The Immaculate Conception. Our Lady of Guadalupe. (16 minutes) Episode notes.
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